FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Northern Arizona women's basketball will play its last home game in 2009 facing off against San Diego on Thursday at the Rolle Activity Center. The game is scheduled for a 6:35 p.m. tip-off. NAU (1-7) will play its next seven games on the road following Thursday's game.

LAST WEEK: ARKANSAS STATE
Northern Arizona women's basketball dropped another close game with a 65-62 loss to Arkansas State in overtime at the Rolle Activity Center on Saturday. Freshman guard Amy Patton hit a 25-foot three-point shot with just over 30 second left in regulation to send the game to overtime, but Arkansas State came from behind in the extra period for the win. NAU (1-7) led for the entire first half playing strong defensive and limiting Arkansas State (3-6) to 23.7-percent shooting from the field. The Lumberjacks received a boost off the bench from freshman guard Tyler Stephens-Jenkins who scored 11 of her 14 points in the first half. Arkansas State adjusted in the second period of play behind Ebonie Jefferson's 13 second half points. She would finish with a game-high 23. The Red Wolves shot 42.9-percent compared to NAU's 36.7-percent in the second half.

THIS WEEKEND: SAN DIEGO
NAU will take on San Diego out of the West Coast Conference on Thursday, December 10 at 6:35 p.m. at the Rolle Activity Center. San Diego is 5-5 on the season and riding a two-game win streak defeating Cal Poly (73-65) and Cal State Fullerton (64-58) this past Monday. The Toreros have four players averaging double figures with the team putting up 69.6 points-per-game and limiting opponents to 66.5 points-per-game. San Diego has played four games on the road this year with a 2-2 record. NAU is 1-5 all-time against the Toreros and 1-2 playing them at home. Also, Thursday's game will be the last for NAU basketball in the Rolle Activity Center with the team moving to the Walkup Skydome for the remainder of the season.

MULTIMEDIA
Fans can catch a live radio broadcast or live webcast for Thursday's game against San Diego. Those wishing to listen locally can tune into AM 630 KAFF with play-by-play from Mitch Strohman and color commentary provided by Andrew Tomsky. Webcasting will be available through www.bigskytv.org. Live stats can also be found on nauathletics.com in the multimedia area.

LIGHTS OUT AT THE LINE
Despite a three-point loss to Arkansas State, NAU basketball went 15-16 (93.8-percent) from the free-throw line. It was the Lumberjacks best performance from the line this season and the only time NAU has cracked even the 80-percent mark. The performance placed them third in the Big Sky Conference in free-throw percentage (70.8-percent), one of only four teams above 70 percent for the year.

DOUBLE DOUBLES
Freshman guard Amy Patton leads the Big Sky Conference in doubles-doubles with four through eight games played. She moved ahead of Portland State's Claire Faulker with a 14 point and 13 rebound performance against Arkansas State. Jenna Galloway made the double-double list last week with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Siena on November 27. Patton and Galloway are two of 15 players in the conference this year to record at least one double-double.

BIG TOTALS
Freshman guard Amy Patton is the only player in the Big Sky Conference to have four games with 10 or more rebounds and two games with 20 or more points. As of Dec. 7, Patton is ranked No. 80 in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball in scoring (16.9 ppg).

PATTON ON TOP
Freshman guard Amy Patton is currently first in the Big Sky Conference in rebounding (8.4 rebounds-per-game) and second in scoring (16.9 points-per-game) and through Dec. 7. She is the only freshman in the top 10 in scoring and the best freshman rebounder. Patton has scored in double-figures in all but one game this year with a season-high 29 points against UC Riverside and 26 points against Ball State. Her 29 points is the second highest total in the Big Sky this year. She has put up double-digits in rebounds four times.

17-0
NAU women's basketball broke open its game against Siena with a 17-0 run midway through the second half. Down 36-33 with 15:32 left in the game, the Lumberjacks scored 17 unanswered points behind Caty Huntington and Amy Patton whom combined for all but three of those 17 points. It marked their largest scoring streak of the season.

STREAK RENEWAL?
The Lumberjacks' four-game streak shooting over 40-percent from the field was snapped against New Mexico; however, NAU bounced back against Siena shooting 40.7-percent for the game on November 27. The Lumberjacks fell under 40-percent against Oregon State and Arkansas State, but have still shot over 40-percent in five of their eight games.

FIRST OF THE YEAR
NAU women's basketball turned in its best performance of the season with a 71-62 win over Siena on day one of the NAU Thanksgiving Classic. The Lumberjacks 0-5 start was their worst to open a season since the 1990-91 women went 0-14 before beating Nevada at home (57-42) and finishing 1-26 on the year.

TRIO SHINES VS. SIENA
Sophomore guard Caty Huntington, freshman guard Amy Patton and junior forward Jenna Galloway turned in standout performances in NAU's win over Siena. Huntington led all scorers with 21 points while Patton and Galloway recorded double-doubles. Patton totaled 18 points and 10 rebounds while Galloway added in 12 points and 10 rebounds. Huntington, Patton and Galloway accounted for 71.8-percent of NAU's scoring while Galloway and Patton made up half of NAU's rebound total.

LINEUP SHUFFLE
After several lineup changes, NAU has settled into a starting five of Vickie Toney, Caty Huntington, Amy Patton, Jenna Galloway and Lauren Hoisington. The group has started the last four games as head coach Laurie Kelly returned to her initial starting lineup in the season opener against Pepperdine on November 13. This season, seven different players have earned starts while six are averaging more than 20 minutes-per-game.

HOISINGTON STAYING SHARP
Junior forward Lauren Hoisington is sixth in the Big Sky Conference in field-goal percentage this year shooting 45.6-percent from the field as of Dec. 7 providing NAU with consistent scoring inside. She had a season-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field against UMKC earlier this year.

HUNTINGTON MOVING ON UP
Sophomore guard Caty Huntington broke into the top 25 in scoring at 24th in the Big Sky Conference with 8.8 points-per-game as of Dec. 7. She is second with 2.6 steals-per-game and eighth in free-throw percentage (80.8).  Huntington is ranked No. 64 in Division I women's basketball with those 2.6 steals-per-game.

SPAICH DELIVERS
Junior forward Melissa Spaich totaled a career-high 10 points off the bench and was perfect from the field (3-3) and foul line (3-3) against New Mexico. She added in two rebounds and a career-high two blocks during 13 minutes of play.

AMBITIOUS SCHEDULING
The Lumberjacks will play their first five games away from Flagstaff with nine of their 13 non-conference games on the road. The challenging schedule includes matchups against Pepperdine (WAC), Ball State (MAC), New Mexico (Mountain West), Arkansas State (Sun Belt), UNLV (Mountain West), and Oregon State (Pac-10) at the NAU Thanksgiving Classic. Ball State received votes in the 2009 USA TODAY/ESPN Top 25 Preseason Coaches' Poll.